We had a very dry spring leading up to vintage 2016 and it was windy, too. We expect windy conditions in Willunga, but this was pretty intense. October and December were both pretty warm, whereas November was mild. Very healthy crops were recorded across all varieties in McLaren Vale. We had a huge downpour at the end of January a few days before the whites were due to be picked; this kind of weather event tends to give Joch a sense of tightening around the left chest area, neck and sometimes down the arm. However this 50mm downpour succeeded in refreshing the vines, giving us a few more days before picking and bringing the lawns back from the brink. February was mild with cool nights and March provided pretty good picking conditions, give or take a few warm days.

Making this classic Bordeaux white blend is a pretty simple process, as much as the winemakers don’t like to be seen to do the work of mere mortals. The trick is keeping the grapes cool (so they are picked at night) and by keeping the ferment cool (by fermenting in stainless steel whose temperature we can control) so that we preserve all of the delicate fruit flavours. This wine also doesn’t spend any time in oak, because we don’t want to mask the gorgeous floral characters of the wine. Sauvignon Blanc is picked a little earlier than the Semillon generally, but as you can see from the picking dates, not this year! . We also try and keep the wine away from oxygen (‘reductive handling’) as well. Once through ferment, a little settling occurs in tank, a clean-up and then to bottle. Hardly the work of the Gods, is it? The result is pretty heavenly though…. You had to let me have that one, didn’t you?!

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